Annual Asbestos Notification

County of San Diego employees,

Each year, the County of San Diego (County) is legally required to notify all County employees about the existence of known asbestos in County facilities. This message provides that annual notification and provides information on asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) that have been identified in County facilities.

Before 1981, asbestos was commonly used as an ingredient in various manufactured building materials. Once in place, asbestos fibers are held in the building material matrix and do not pose a health hazard unless the fibers become airborne when the material is damaged or disturbed. This annual notification is given to remind all County staff of this potential problem and to enlist your help in ensuring that ACMs are not disturbed.

If you would like more information on this matter, you can review the County Asbestos Policy (0050-01-9), which establishes roles and responsibilities to protect County staff from activities that could disturb ACMs. This policy can be found in the Chief Administrative Office manual at http://insite.sdcounty.ca.gov/fg3/cao/Administrative%20Manual%20Policies/0050-01-09.pdf. In addition, ACM information for various County facilities can be accessed from the Department of Environmental Health and Quality (DEHQ), Occupational Health Program (OHP) Intranet site at https://sdcountycagov.sharepoint.com/sites/InSite/lueg/deh/ohp/Pages/Annual-Asbestos-Notification.aspx. This is only a list of materials that have tested positive for asbestos. This listing is not comprehensive and should not be used to determine if asbestos is present before a building material is disturbed. Since most of the data is based on inspections for remodel/renovation projects, asbestos information may be known for only a portion of the specific building. In addition, there are entire buildings which have no asbestos testing data. Before activities occur that could disturb suspect ACMs in facilities, suspect materials must be sampled and/or checked. Contact your Building Supervisor or OHP staff at 858-694-2888 for assistance. If you do not have access to the County’s InSite, you can contact your Department Asbestos Program Coordinator (DAPC) for a copy of the information you need. A list of the DAPCs is here.

Furthermore, OHP maintains and provides access to environmental monitoring and employee exposure records for all health hazard evaluations conducted by this program as required by California regulations which can be reviewed. Please contact OHP at 858-694-2888 for further information.

Sincerely,

Department of Environmental Health and Quality